Dubai September 20 :The team of Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by five wickets on Saturday, in revenge for the defeat in the final last year. In a thrilling match played in Abu Dhabi, CSK, led by Dhoni, defeated Mumbai in the last over to open the tournament with a win. Ambati Rayudu and Faf Duplessis both played half-century innings for Chennai. The duo also shared a match-winning century for the third wicket.
Rayudu scored 71 off 48 balls with the help of six fours and three sixes and added 115 runs for the third wicket with Faf Duplessis (58 not out off 44 balls, six fours) to lift Chennai off a poor start.
In the final moments, Sam Karan scored 18 runs with the help of two sixes. Chennai scored 166 runs for five wickets in 19.2 overs.
Earlier, Mumbai scored only 41 runs in the last six overs and lost six wickets in the meantime, due to which Rohit’s team could manage 162 runs for nine wickets. On his side, Saurabh Tiwari (42 off 31 balls, three fours, one six) and Quinton Dickock (33 off 20 balls, five fours) contributed significantly.
Rayudu and Duplessis cross Chennai
Chennai had lost the last five matches to Mumbai but this time they managed to get off to a great start by defeating their arch-rivals. Chasing the target, North Chennai had a poor start and lost the wickets of both openers Shane Watson (four) and Murali Vijay (one) in the first two overs. Rayudu then welcomed Bumrah with two fours and a six to take the score to 37 for two in the powerplay in the sixth over. He also performed brilliantly with Duplessis and his art of long shots in the meantime. Both the Mumbai spinners Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya did not have one in front of them.
Rayudu also made his first half-century in this IPL, which is his 26th half-century in T20. Rayudu also got his life on a personal score of 69 but in the same over, he sat waving in the air. Chennai then needed 42 runs off 24 balls. After this, Ravindra Jadeja (10) also could not do anything special but Karen (18 off six balls) made Chennai work easy by hitting sixes on Krunal and Bumrah. Duplessis completed his 13th half-century in the IPL and then hit a winning four.
Earlier, Lungi Ngidi bowled three for Chennai while Deepak Chahar and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each while leg-spinners Piyush Chawla and Sam Karan bowled effectively and did not allow Mumbai to score big.
Rohit fails, Saurabh Tiwari takes over Mumbai
After a long time, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, playing a competitive match, won the toss and decided to field first and Deepak Chahar set the record for the first ball of the season for the third consecutive year. Dhoni made a spin attack in the fifth over as Chawla. Rohit was unable to put a shot on the leg-spinner with the right timing and was able to catch an easy catch to Sam Karan at mid-off. In the next over of the match, Karan, after arriving here two days before England, was dismissed by Dickock at midwicket.
After this, Saurabh Tiwari teamed up with Suryakumar Yadav to lead the innings. However, Yadav soon returned to the pavilion. Before Tiwari and Hardik Pandya could do anything special, Duplessis got a view of the best fielding. He converted Jadeja for two wickets in one over, converting both Tiwary and Hardik’s sixes for a beautifully placed catch at the boundary line. In the death overs, Lungi Ngidi dealt Mumbai’s middle order with his sharp bowling, dodged MI’s hopes, and stopped him from scoring big.